Fighting sex trafficking in Cambodia
Brian McConaghy is head of the Ratanak Foundation, a Christian Canadian organisation fighting sex trafficking of little girls in Cambodia. He recently spoke at an anti-human trafficking conference in Toronto. I was very moved by his speech, which is posted at Aim4Asia. Here is a snippet.
In the late 18th early 19th century England, which was at that time the naval and economic power of the world, was subjected to the madness of one man. A man, who over and over and over again, would not give‑up on what was on his heart. He worked years for his goals. That man was Wilberforce. And his long journey started with education. He needed to be educated about the problems of this world in order to make it personal for him. For if things are not personal, we simply do not have the drive to make change.
In making it personal he understood grief. I believe we too will understand grief if we take it upon ourselves to look at some of the ugliness this world has to offer. But, more than anything else, he applied his faith. The celebrated acts of Wilberforce were not so much acts of social justice as they were a logical outworking of his faith.
Today’s slavery is no less grotesque. It is no less daunting. There are thousands of people in sex slavery just in Cambodia. There are millions in slavery throughout the world. Let’s be under no illusion this is brutal brutal stuff. Western society has the luxury to look away, to change the channel, to isolate ourselves in this western affluent cocoon, to create a studied ignorance in which we all live. God has no such luxury. He is compelled to be involved because this for him is intensely personal. There are no options if love is involved. We can only love that which we know.
Brian McConaghy founded Ratanak Foundation in 1990 after visiting Cambodian refugee camps in Thailand.
Ratanak is the name of a little girl Brian saw dying in a documentary on Cambodia. It means “gem” in Khmer.